Carriage holder and releasing mechanism



A ril 27, 1926. v M. A. WEST CARRIAGEfiOLDER AND RELEASING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 25 1925 r 1 a r a Patented 18.121327, 1926. y

UNITED, STATEfi AT'ENT OFFICE. MAXWELL A. w s'r, or PORTLAND, OREGON, ssrenoa or one-HALF ro ADA M.

QUENIN, or PQRTLAND, oaneon. CARRIAGE HOLDER AND nnLEAsrne MECHANISM.

Application filed February 25, 1925. Serial 11,470. '7

To all whom it may concern: The sixth object is to reduce the effect Be it hereby known that I, MAX ELL A. of the impact between the main carriage VVEs'r, a citizen of the United States, and and the holding carriage by allowing the a resident of Portland, in the county of iolding carriage to run along the standing vented a new and useful Carriage Holder ing to hold same rigidly in place.

and Releasing Mechanism, of which the fol- The Seventh O j e s to make it possible lowing is a specification. to easily change the landing point by merely This invention relates generallyto the changing the location of the holding car- 10 logging industry, and particularly to that ege! (l branch thereof in which the logs are trans- The eighthobject is to proyide-an adjustported on overhead cables commonly known e t f0? e latching lhelhhel l as 1; 1i t h as th N th B d make the locking device absolutely positive system, and others of a similar nature. under varying conditions of the load, lines,

Particular reference is made to the use of speeds nd angles of inclination of the 05 such systems in hauling logs along the level 7 Standing line. I c and on u grades, These, and other objects, will become more Th fir t bj t of thi i ti i t apparent from the specification "following provide an automatic carriage holding and a I l s r d in the accompanying draw- 0 releasing device whereby the carriage will g, m Which! I be automatically caught and, held over a Figure 1 is a view showing, in full lines, landing so that the main line can be slacked the P n aken by the carriage and sufiiciently to allow the chokers to b 1111- ehokers when employing thisdevice during hooked, and at the same time make itjposthe Operation e i g the C S', in

ible to release the carriage as 50011113, the Which the fall block is illCliOZlfCBil at A; In haulback line starts to take same out to the Seine eW e f ll hleeli i in e at th w od e r v B, in dotted: lines, which isthe unlocking The s nd bj t i to li i t th (hi position. In the same View the fall block ficulty usually encountered when trying to is O i at O, in dotted lines, together with 30 release a carriage when locked on an uph B a ge which is ShOWn'hl dottedhnes, grade cable, by performing this operation in thOPOSltIOD to which it has moved durwith the aid of the haulback line instead g the h -P release the C k s When of manually, as is ordinarily the case. y device is ot pl y d and is mi Th thi d bj t i t id v means from the carriage' Figure 2'is an enlarged 35 whereby it is possible to logk nd unlock V16? Of -l6YlC6 itself showing $211118 carriages of the heaviest types on inclined e H' and attached to an ordinary car,- cableways without the loss of time and with- 'g gure 3 is EL Vertical Section taken out danger to the operator. e along the line 3--3 in Figure 2.

p The fourth object is to renderv it an ex Shhlhll e ff reference refer to 40 tremely simple matter to release the choker h Sillhe P 8 roughout the several hooks from the logs by preventing the car- WeWS- I riage, with its fall-block, from. dropping Referring 111 d l t0 the g, in 01% back down the grade as soon as t i i der to illustrate this device and themanner released from the main line in a. manner to in Whieh it is p r re is indicated prevent the chokers from being unhooked. the USU-ill dl l'ee 10 and tail tree 11 pro- The fifth object is to reduce wear on the vided with the tree shoes 12 over which is main line over the landing by making it unpassed thel'usual standing line or skyline l3. necessary for the carriage to move back and 'On the line 13 is mounted theusualcarforth a humber of times before the choke'rs riage 14 with its sheaves 15 and the'cha-in 59 are finally released; t6 which is attached the main line 17,

Multnomah and State of Oregon,have inline a short distance, instead of attempt- 6 i 'a rubber cushion which passes through the fall-block l8 and the lead block 19 on the head tree 10, and is attached to the skidding drum of a logging engine (not shown).

To the fall-block 18 is attached the butt chains 20 to which are attached the chokers 21 adapted to be secured around the logs 22 being transported. Attached to the fallblock 18 is a haulback line 23 which carries the chokers toward the tail tree 11. It is of course understood that the haulback line is preferably power driven and is carried around one or more sheaves back to the haulback drum on the logging engine.

-Turning now to the device itself, attention is drawn to the holding carriage 24: consisting of a pair of side members preferably of plate material, and having two sheaves between same which ride on the standing line 13. A relatively long counterweight 26 is hinged to the lower side of the holding carriage 24: by means of a strap 27 which passes around the bolt 28, which, in turn, passes through the sides of the holding carriage.

Between the sides of the-holding carriage 2 and on the side facing the carriage 1%,

is a latch 29'l1avi'ng a hook 30 formed on the end thereof. This latch is mounted on the bolt 31. A11 arm 32 projects upwardly from the hinged end of the latch '29 and is provided with a hole which can be made to register with any of the holes 83. A bolt S-l is employed to hold the arm 32 inthe desired position for easy latching, depending upon the inclination of the main line at the landing, and other factors. A line 3% attaches the holding carriage to the head tree 10.

In some instances it is desirable to provide a yielding holder for the arm 32 instead of rigidly attaching the entire latch to the holding carriage 24. This, of course, can be readily accomplished by providing a spring on one or both sides of the arm 32, with- ..out departing from the spirit of this invention.

To the carriage 11- is attached the locking means itself which consists of a frame having a funnel-shaped mouth 36 which has 37 secured in the end thereof by means of a bolt 38, to permit ready replacement. The frame is attached to the carriage lei by means of the bolts 39, or in any other convenient manner. Obviously the angular relation between the latch 29 and the frame 35 could be ad- I justed-equally well by changing the relation of the frame 35 to the carriage ll.

On the under side of the frame are formed the spaced lugs 40, between which the mouth 36 is slotted, in which slotis 1 hinged a lock ll on the pin -12. The lock 41 is provided with a shoulder 4-3 which is adapted to engage the hook 30 of the latch 29. The lock 41 is also provided with a spring l t adapted to urge the shouldered portion 43 through the slot to, and to make same project into the interior of the frame 85.

The face 46 is so formed as to permit the end of the latch 25) to force the lock ll out of the way of the on-coming hook 230. Under the urge of the spring a l the lock again moves into the frame 35 and locks the carriage l-l to the holding carriage 2%. To the lock 41 is attached a light line l7 whose oth er end is attached to the chain 16 at some distance below the carriage 1%. The lip l8 on the lock 4-1 prevents same from extending too'far into' the frame 35. The lip -18 also works in a slot formed between the U- shaped guide 48 whose closed end t8 acts as a stop for the lock etl to prevent same from being withdrawn sutliciently far to over-con'ipress the spring'a t.

The operation of the device is as follows: hen bringing in a load of logs they are brought up to the landing in the usual manner until the carriage ll is locked to the holding carriage 2-1:. The main line is now released quickly and completely slacked away and the butt chains and chokers take positions similar to those shown in full lines in Figure 1'. Vhen the Chokers are unhooked the haulback line is used to pull the fallblock and its chain toward the tail tree suf ficiently far to cause the line at? to withdraw the lock-i1 and thereby release the latch 29, which, of course, releases the entire carriage 1.

When picking up logs from beyond the tail tree there is little possibility of undue strains being placed on the line 47. Owing to the fact that the carriage M is near the tail tree, its angle of inclination is reversed from that which it assumes at the head tree, at which time the line at? must be of the correct length to permit the side pull, above n'ientioned, to release the carriage.

Holding carriages intended to secure a logging carriage automatically have been constructed in the past, but in this device there is provided not only a means for securing the carriage but also for releasing same automatically by the use of the power lines themselves, with a considerable saving in la bor and reduction in loss of logging time, which, of course, means an increase in capacity for a given system.

Existing devices having automatic locks are extremely uncertain in their actionin other words-conditions must be just right for them to function at all, and since ideal conditions in logging operations are the exception rather than the rule, it is evident that means for adjusting the latching mechanism to meet the needs and ditl'erent set-ups highly important.

9. In a log-handling device, the combination of a standing line; a holding carriage icldingly mounted on said line; a logging carriage also mounted on said line; a fall- 5 block'undcr said locking carriage; a main line passing through said fall-block and fastening to said logging carriage; a haulback line attached to said fa11b1ock; a latch between said carriages adapted to secure same together by contact; and means for releasing said latch by a pull on said haulback line.

MAXVELL A. EST. 

